OUR TEAM

LAB 2 WRITE-UP

Thermal Cycler Engineering

Our re-design is based upon the Open PCR system originally designed by Josh Perfetto and Tito Jankowski.

System Design
Our redesign consisted of improving the insulation in the OpenPCR machine between the processing unit and fan and the the heating cap. This change is especially useful, allowing for increased insulation, with material such as fiberglass. This increased insulation allows for a more constant temperature at the heating cap. Because the temperature at the heating cap will be more constant, the OpenPCR machine will be able to perform its job faster and more efficiently, which is an incredibly handy feature considering a normal PCR machine can take up to two hours to amplify DNA. However, this increased insulation will cause the machine to become increasingly hot as it does its job. Our redesign accounts for this problem. By improving the fan on the machine as well, we eliminate any potential problems due to heat, such as overheating. However, another problem that arises from these new additions to the machine is room. The machine itself is fairly small, and compromising this portable size is not an option. For that reason, the redesign includes the use of a smaller fan, maintaining the intended efficiency of the redesign while accounting for the possible compromise in size. This redesign helps to improve the time that it takes for the OpenPCR machine to amplify DNA while maintaining a similar, if not smaller, size, allowing for much more DNA to be amplified in the same amount of time.